“Liturgy without life is like putting makeup on a corpse. Doctrine without this same life is like spelling everything right on the tombstone” (Against the Church, p. 42).
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Theology That Bites Back
Theology That Bites Back
Or, ‘sowing a field with pearls or diamonds’ don’t expect any harvest–Edward Bounds
Without “life” is true enough, but life is an attribute of God. Liturgy and doctrine without engagement with God is the problem. The Word consistently calls us to look God in the eye. This “life” is not an impersonal commodity, which is related to my insistence on the New Covenant being Jesus Himself, not another “objective” mediator between Jesus and the individual. The NT has hardly anything to say about Covenant and everything to say about Jesus.
Mike, I agree with the spirit of what you’re saying (I think), but I would put it a little differently. I think it’s a bit of an overstatement to say that “The NT has hardly anything to say about Covenant.” I assume you mean covenant as a legal rather than a personal or vital relation. But I would differ with this conception. I would say that Christ IS the covenant; “for this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.” (Mat 26:28, cf. Mk 14:24) Or again, “This cup is the… Read more »
Why don’t my paragraph breaks ever show up?
@Kevin.
To create a paragraph, hit the space bar until the cursor gets all the way to the other side. Then hit space. Alternativelly, there is the “triune” method of three slashes.///like so.
Finally, there is the lazy method of finding a previous post with paragraph breaks, then double-clicking and copying those and pasting them in. If you click on this comment, in the space between your name and the first paragraph you will see one.
Mike,
Obviously I didn’t pay close enough attention. You mentioned “the New Covenant being Jesus Himself”, to which I replied, “Actually, the New Covenant is Jesus Himself.” Sorry about that.///Now to test the paragraph break.
testing testing///testing
Mike Bull, You make a valid point about engagement with God. But I see no reason to take reference to “life” to be a mere objective, theological proposition that lacks such engagement. If he is referring to authentic, regenerate life, then by definition it must entail such engagement with God, no? Also, an insistence on the New Covenant being Jesus Himself is not an attempt to objectify Christ or reduce Him to a mere impersonal commodity or theological or doctrinal proposition. It actually goes in the other direction – it’s an attempt to reveal the personal… Read more »